Consultation closed 7 February 2015.
AFMA is updating the rebuilding strategy for school shark and we are interested in your comments.
The 2008 Stock Rebuilding Strategy made significant progress on removing targeted fishing of School Shark in the Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery (SESSF). Whilst there remains some uncertainty about the size of the stock, incidental catch rates in the trawl sector have been increasing steadily since 2003 suggesting that current measures are supporting rebuilding.
The revised School Shark rebuilding strategy builds on existing measures and includes investment in further research to independently measure the abundance of School over time.
For an overview of the proposed changes see the FAQs below.
Download a copy of the draft strategy:
Email comments to david.power@afma.gov.au by 5pm 7 February 2015.
FAQs on the revised strategies
What management actions will be applied to assist in the recovery of School Shark?
School Shark has been classified as overfished since 1992, with catches peaking in the late 1960s at over 2500t. School Shark have been managed under a Stock Rebuilding Strategy since 2008 as the stock is considered to be below its limit reference point.
Actions set out in this updated Strategy continue to limit fishing mortality and support rebuilding through:
- preventing targeting and limiting incidental bycatch of school shark
- monitoring total fishing mortality and adapting management if total fishing mortality exceeds the level that would support rebuilding of the stock
- closing areas to protect pups and breeding age school sharks as well as important habitat
- increasing independent monitoring with the use of e-monitoring across the longline and gillnet sectors
- investing in research to independently measure the abundance and rebuilding of the school shark stock.
How does AFMA know if the School Shark Stock is rebuilding?
The Shark Resource Assessment Group (SharkRAG) annually reviews School Shark stocks and recommends biologically appropriate catches based on the most recent stock assessment and fishing mortality information.
However, as fishers are actively avoiding school shark, the catch rate data used in the current assessment cannot reliably measure the size of the stock. To address this issue, research on a fishery independent measure of abundance commenced in late 2014 and is expected to provide a reliable estimate of the size of the school shark stock when completed in 2017.
Until then AFMA and SharkRAG will monitor other indicators such as trawl catch rates to see if relative abundance of school shark is increasing or decreasing. The current trend from trawl catch rates is positive with a steady increase in trawl catch rates observed since 2003.
What rebuilding timeframes is AFMA working to?
The Commonwealth Fisheries Harvest Strategy Policy recognises that there are likely to be a number of alternative time paths to rebuild a stock. AFMA is proposing to adopt the rebuilding timeframe to the limit reference point of three mean generation times. This means that management aims should see School Shark stocks rebuilt to above their limit reference point within 66 years.
How often are the strategies reviewed?
The strategies will be reviewed every five years by AFMA with input from the Shark Resource Assessment Group and the South East Management Advisory Committee.